Coming Home
by digitaldesigner
Summary: Feelings are revealed.


Title: Coming Home

Author: Aimee

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Spin the Bottle, Apocalypse, Nowish

Pairing: Angel/Cordelia

Summary: Feelings are revealed.

Disclaimer: If you recognize them, they belong to Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt. Otherwise, they're mine.

Author's Note: This is my version of what happened when Angel goes to see Cordy in Apocalypse, Nowish.

Connor heard a scream as he walked into the attic of the Natural History Museum--his home. It came from the television that Cordelia was watching.

"Whatcha watching?" he asked her.

"Some old movie. Pod People or Mutant Pod Mushrooms or something. I don't know. I can't remember. I mean, I don't remember cause I was a kid when I saw it so it's a little on the foggy, but natural fog," she told him, turning off the TV. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna turn into Amnesia Action Figure Cordy again."

"She wasn't so bad."

"Yeah, a real hoot, too, with the panicking and the screaming and running around like a nut."

Connor walked to where Cordelia was sitting and kneeled in front of her. "You should rest."

"I'm okay."

"You haven't slept since you came back."

"I know. I just need--"

"Angel?"

She sighed. "Yes," she said, looking down.

Connor nodded knowingly. "You love him." It wasn't a question.

Cordelia looked up at him then. "Yes. I fell in love with my best friend."

"Tell him."

"I don't know how."

"Cordy, look into your heart. It won't lead you astray."

***

Angel was inspecting the weapons cabinet while Lorne was working the phones at the front desk. They were ringing off the hook faster than he could answer them. Gunn walked into the lobby, handing Angel his battle axe.

"Hey. How'd it go?" Angel asked.

"Where's Fred?" Lorne wanted to know.

"Bad. Out," he told them just as the phone rang again. "I got it," he said, picking up the phone.

"Bless you and all your parts," Lorne said, handing Gunn the message log.

"Angel Investigations. Uh huh. And what is the nature of your manifestation?"

Lorne walked over to Angel. "Business is really humming, huh?"

"Yeah, word of mouth, I guess, got around that I'm back. You think I should keep these alphabetical or rearrange them by how much damage they inflict?"

"Damage. Nomenclature goes out the portal when hacking's afoot," Lorne told him.

Angel looked up from the weapons cabinet. "Connor, hey."

"Hey," Connor said.

"It's okay. The spell wore off. Thanks for not letting me hurt Cordy."

"I don't think you would have," Connor told his father. "You should talk to her."

"Oh, hallelujah," Lorne said.

"Now's not a good time. After everything she's been through, the last thing she needs--"

"Dad, please?"

***

Cordelia was facing away from the door when Angel and Connor came into the room.

"I'm gonna kill him," Cordelia sighed.

Angel walked toward her while Connor hung back. "He's just worried about you. We all are."

"Is that the royal we or the populous?"

"I always wanted to be a prince," Angel told her, sitting down next to her and taking her hand. "I hear you gotta be born into it."

Cordelia smiled. "How do you do that?"

"What?"

"Make everything feel like it's not spiraling apart," she told him as Connor walked out of the room, giving them the privacy he knew they needed.

"The way you left the hotel--"

She nodded. "I know. I'm sorry," she told him as one solitary tear slipped down her face.

"Hey," he said, brushing it away. "Talk to me."

"When I got my memory back, everything came rushing in. Sunnydale, moving to Los Angeles, meeting you again. I wanted to tell you, but it was just too much."

"Tell me what?"

"I love you, Angel. I fell in love with my best friend. I don't know when or how, but I did. You were right. I was going to tell you that night we were supposed to meet."

"Cordy, I love you. These months without you have been hell. You are my dearest friend and the one true love of my life."

She gently touched his face and kissed the man she loved with a tenderness that took his breath away--or would have if he'd had breath.

She threw her arms around him then, hugging him for all she was worth. "I missed you," she whispered. "I missed you so much."

Angel held her tight. "I missed you, too, Cordy. So much."

When they pulled apart, they were both smiling. "Can I come home?" she asked.

"Of course you can. You will always have a home there."

She smiled that familiar Cordelia Chase smile then, which prompted a smile of his own. "Let's go, then. I want--I need--"

"To be with the man you love?" asked a voice from the doorway.

They looked up to find Connor leaning on the door frame, a smile on his face. "You look happy," he told her. He looked from Cordy to Angel. "You both do."

"I am happy," Cordelia told the young man. "I have everything I have ever wanted."

Connor nodded."I know. You both look happier than I have ever seen either of you before. It's nice to see." He paused. "Go home, go spend some time together."

Angel decided that he wanted nothing more than to take his son's advice. "Thanks, Connor. For everything," he said, standing.

Connor nodded. "Anytime."

Angel pulled Cordy to her feet and took her hand, walking out into the night and leading her to his Plymouth convertible.

As she slid in beside him, she slipped her hand in his, loving the feel of her skin against his. It felt wonderful. It felt like coming home.

He squeezed her hand and started the engine. Returning his hand to hers, he smiled. As he pulled away from the curb, she smiled at him. He couldn't help thinking that the stars didn't shine so brightly as her smile.


End file.
